Good News for the Klingon Race

By Glen F. Proechel (Bible Collectors’ World – Oct./Dec. 1994)

NOTE: The appearance of the
following article does not imply that the International Society of
Bible Collectors endorses the Klingon language NT project or the
rationale for it. We carry it as an item of information only, which
might be of interest to some collectors.

What could prompt a relatively sane person
to undertake the translation of the New Testament into a language
created for a fictional race of aliens in the Star Trek Universe? Of
the many translations of the Bible in the past, the goal has always
been to render God’s Word into a version which will make the Gospel
available to other groups of Earthlings who can benefit spiritually
from reading the translation in question. But what value is there in
a Bible written in a fictitious language for fictitious beings? The
answer is a complex one, and, for the author of these lines, also a
personal one.

Most of the really great discoveries in
science have been made when the scientists were not attacking a
problem directly, but were ‘playing’ with it. Certainly the Bible is
not a toy and is not meant to be played with for the amusement of
its readers or translators. However, focusing on the task of trying
to explain the Gospel to people who live on another planet and about
whom we know very little, except that they are space travelers and
live in a very militaristic society, is mind-opening. The Klingons,
whose Home World is very distant from ours, have little or no
knowledge of life on our planet (with the exception - we are told -
of high government officials and military officers). Consequently,
there are very few words which describe plants, animals and food
with which we are familiar. They have no knowledge of our history or
our religious practices. Most probably, they don’t even know where
the planet Earth is located in the Cosmos, much less first century
Palestine.

Christianity is a historical religion which
stems from a certain period of history in a small country in the
Middle East. It is focused on the meaning of the life of one man
whose life and work took place during a few years in a distant time
period. Yet, the theological message which emanates from this brief
period in human history is timeless. It is about life, death,
redemption, faith, and salvation - themes which transcend it’s
historical basis and earth-bound origins. It gradually became clear
to me that a conventional translation into the Klingon language was
impossible. It seemed to me that the only way one could make
Klingons understand God’s Word was to retell the story in symbols
and in an environment with which they were familiar.

Before I go much further and the reader
begins to believe I’ve lost my sanity, I need to emphasize here that
I am fully aware that Klingons do not exist. However, in order to
create a successful translation, it was necessary to treat the text
as if they existed, and that it was my intention to bring the Gospel
to them.

I wanted to create a translation which
could be read and understood by the mythical “Klingon-in-the-street.”
I, of course, also never lost sight of the fact that my real target
reader was the Star Trek fan and the ‘Sunday-go-to-meetin”
Christian, who needed to see the Gospel presented in a different
way; and perhaps in this fashion, gain some insights which would not
have occurred to him or her by reading a more traditional
translation. To this end, it would not do to bring out a monolingual
translation into Klingon, since this could be read easily by only a
small handful of dedicated Klingonists. A bilingual text was
necessary: Klingon and Federation Standard. Federation Standard is
the term Klingons use to refer to English, which presumes that
English will have become the “lingua franca” of the United
Federation of Planets in the twenty-third century. In this case,
however, it means a more-or-less literal translation of the Klingon
text back into English, producing a sort of ‘Star Trek’ English
version, so the reader can get the feel of the Klingon text without
actually having read it in Klingon. Of course, the bilingual text
can also prove useful to the student of Klingon who wants to improve
his skills by working through the translation.

Adjustments in the text to make it ‘Klingon
friendly’ are considerable. However, it must be remembered that,
unlike some translations - those which attempt to change Christian
doctrine by making the biblical text conform to current standards of
political correctness by denying the Trinity and replacing “God the
Mother” for “God the Father”, or talking about the ‘child of
humanity” instead of the “Son of Man”, thus taking away Jesus’
Messiahship - the goal here is to try to keep the Christian
doctrinal concepts intact, even while modifying specifics of the
text, to make it more understandable to it’s Klingon readers.

Having said this, let me paint the
scenario. All of the Klingon Empire is under the military occupation
of Romulan soldiers. The Empire is divided into three provinces
(colonies) - Kronos, Judah and Bajora. The Vulcans control the
religious and social life (they axe the Scribes and Pharisees), and
the Ferengis are in control of the business world. The Klingons are
expecting a “warrior Messiah” who will drive out the Romulans and
take the Emperor’s throne. Such a man appears in the form of Jesu
Kahless. After undergoing the cleansing ceremony with Jong the
Baptist, he chooses his disciples. Among them are Maltz, maroQ, juQ,
‘angHu’, petor, juDaS, the twin (Thomas), pI’lIgh, and Jong. After a
military attack to take the Holy City (Jerusalem) fails, Jesu is
crucified on the “Claw”. The claw is the Klingon trefoil, the
three-pointed star which is spread out in a cross-like shape, and
which represents the flag symbol of the Klingon Empire.

Since there is no word for “cross” in
Klingon, and the claw is an important symbol in the Klingon Empire,
I felt like the Apostle Paul (“putlh” in Klingon) preaching the
“Unknown God” to the Romans. I took a symbol that already existed in
the culture, and used it in a way that would make the readers
understand the Gospel more clearly.

Further, the name “Jesu Kahless” was chosen
to translate Jesus Christ, because the Klingons already owed their
allegiance to a warrior Messiah whose name is “Kahless” (‘geylIS’ in
Klingon spelling). After long deliberation, I decided that instead
of trying to transliterate “Christ”, “Christus”, or “Messiah”; or to
translate “the anointed one” or the “chosen one”; it would be more
effective simply to use the name “Kahless” as the equivalent of
Christ. This is not to imply in any way that Jesus is one and the
same as the Klingon Messiah, but rather that he is the true Kahless,
or true Messiah.

Our efforts to “evangelize the Klingons”,
so to speak, has stirred a lot of interest. There are a considerable
number of people, both Christians and non-Christians, who are of the
opinion that one should not mix Star Trek and religion. The one is a
matter of faith, the other of fantasy. Others feel that “we have too
much time on our hands” and that the project is a monumental waste
of time, since the Klingons don’t exist, and therefore don’t need
saving. I guess one could argue that watching Star Trek is a waste
of time, but for those who do, I hope it will be reassuring to have
God’s Word in a medium that speaks to them. At least it won’t hurt
to think about the message of the Bible in a new medium.